Nottingham Forest could be without a number of players for what might be a crucial period in the Premier League season.
The original plan saw the Africa Cup of Nations scheduled to take place over the summer in the Ivory Coast, with the tournament scheduled for June and July. It would have been a repeat of the summer tournament that took place in Egypt in 2019.
The original schedule would have meant that the impact on Premier League teams would have been minimal with players taking part during the off season. However, the plans have now been changed due to the heavy floods expected in the west of Africa.
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The scheduled tournament will now take place between January 13 and February 11, 2024. It means that should players make the latter stages of the tournament, they could miss up to four Premier League games.
In Forest’s case, players would miss clashes against Brentford (A), Arsenal (H), Bournemouth (A) and Newcastle (H). It seems that Forest could be one of the teams most impacted by the tournament.
In the teams qualified for the tournament so far, there are six current Forest players who could feature in the tournament. Moussa Niakhate (Senegal), Cheikhou Kouyate (Senegal), Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis (Nigeria) as well as Andre Ayew (Ivory Coast) have all been regulars for their countries.
Defender Willy Boly is also an Ivory Coast international, but has not earned a cap since March last year. It means that Forest could be without all of the players for what could be a crucial period of the Premier League season, with Forest leading the way in players currently qualified for the tournament.
The Reds have also been linked with defender Romain Saiss. If a transfer does happen, then he would also be likely to be involved in the tournament for Morocco who have confirmed their place. It means that it could be another thing to take into account for Steve Cooper ahead of the new season.
